On September 8, 2020, PowerChina issued an announcement that the main bridge of the Honghe Bridge, the first suspension bridge over the Red River in China, invested and constructed by the Power Construction Road and Bridge Company, was successfully closed. From the start of the cable hoisting test on August 9 to the closure of the bridge, 59 sections of steel box girder hoisting, linear observation and adjustment tasks were completed within 23 days, and the hoisting speed is at the forefront of the industry.

The Honghe Super Bridge is a control project for the construction of (a) Yuan Expressway project. It was invested and constructed by the China Power Construction Road and Bridge Group in the PPP+EPC mode, and the Eighth Hydropower Bureau assumed the construction task to cross the Honghe Nansha Reservoir. The total length of the Honghe Bridge is 1366 meters. The main bridge deck adopts -0.5% unidirectional longitudinal slope, the bridge deck is 25 meters wide, and the height is 188 meters from the water surface of the reservoir area. The main bridge of the bridge is a 700-meter double-tower single-span steel box girder suspension bridge. The reinforced girder is an integral streamlined steel box girder structure with a total of 59 sections. The steel box girder has a total width of 29.5 meters, a height of 3.0 meters, and a total weight of about 9,700 tons. The main towers are located at Jianshui Bank and Yuanyang Bank, respectively. Jianshui Bank towers are 181.286 meters high and Yuanyang Bank main towers are 122.486 meters high. Gravity anchors are used on both banks. During construction, the project focused on striving for the brand goals of "National Quality Engineering Award" and "Luban Award", formulated detailed and scientific special construction plans, optimized construction technology, adopted advanced technology, and introduced a visual safety monitoring system for real-time monitoring and early warning. Professionalization, streamlining, visualized management, and refined operations have successfully overcome many construction difficulties such as high temperature and dry heat, canyons and gales, and piles through molten troughs.

The successful closure of the Honghe Super Bridge demonstrates the unity, precise planning, and careful arrangement of the power construction road and bridge builders. It marks the successful victory of the most important process of the bridge’s superstructure construction, and is a great success for the subsequent bridge deck system and auxiliary structure construction process. The smooth progress has laid the foundation and provided valuable experience for the construction of large-scale suspension bridges in the industry. Based on the current advancing speed, the bridge is expected to be officially completed in March 2021. Editor/Peng Xue